More than Divas: Chinese Cuban Women, Opera Performance, and the Construction of Alternative Ways of Being and Belonging in Cuba

Uprizoritve Mozartovih oper v Ljubljani do leta 1861

The purpose of the work is to investigate the actual issues of creative relationships between opera and sym- phony conductors and opera stage directors and the peculiarities of their cooperation in the modern Ukrainian musical theater. The methodology of the research lies in the use of analytical, functional, comparative and art research methods with the purpose to determine the main functions of a director and conductor in the process of staging an opera perform- ance and clarify the significance of creative interaction between specialists of various types and art genres in the process of staging an opera and the importance of inuring the future artists to the creative cooperation skills. These issues are considered in the context of the activities of NMAU Opera Studio named after P.I. Tchaikovsky. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the analysis of synthetic interaction and the relationship between the conductor and director roles in the interpretation process while staging an opera performance through the example of NMAU Opera Studio named after Tchaikovsky, which will allow us to find the optimal combination of this cooperation for the realization of the work of both the director and the conductor in the process of staging an opera performance. The research is based on the practical experience of specialists in the field of musical and theatrical art. Conclusions. The research results show that in the process of staging an opera performance, both directing and conducting are equally important for highly artis- tic and professional interpretation and implementation of theatrical concept of the work. It is this practical approach, which should dominate the work of Opera Studio of the National Tchaikovsky Music Academy of Ukraine, where students acquire their first experience during their studies.

“Audience Engagement (AE)” describes how a stage performance affects the audience’s thoughts, provokes a bodily response, and spurs cognitive growth. With little audience involvement, theatre performing arts like opera typically have difficulty keeping audiences’ attention. The brain-computer interaction (BCI) technology could be used in opera performances to alter the audience’s emotional experience. Nevertheless, for such BCI systems to function, they must accurately identify their participants’ present emotional states. Although difficult to evaluate, audience participation is a vital sign of how well an opera performs. Practical methodological approaches for real-time perception and comprehension of audience emotions include psychological and physiological assessments. Hence, a multimodal emotional state detection technique (MESDT) for enhancing the AE in opera performance using BCI has been proposed. Three essential steps make up a conceptual MESDT architecture. An electroencephalogram (EEG) and other biological signs from the audience are first captured. Second, the acquired signals are processed, and the BCI tries to determine the user’s present psychological response. Third, an adaptive performance stimulus (APS) is triggered to enhance AE in opera performance, as determined by a rule base. To give the opera audience a high-quality viewing experience, the immersive theatre performance has been simulated. Fifty individuals have been used in the experimental assessment and performance studies. The findings demonstrated that the proposed technology had been able to accurately identify the decline in AE and that performing stimuli had a good impact on enhancing AE during an opera performance. It has been further shown that the suggested design improves the overall performance of AE by 5.8% when compared to a typical BCI design (one that uses EEG characteristics solely) for the proposed MESDT framework with BCI.

To analyze the different poetics of working-class and intellectual popular history, this paper compares two koa-a-hi 歌仔戲 (Taiwanese opera) performances which take Qing dynasty Taiwan as their setting, and are loosely based on the same folk legend.Kam Kokpo Goes to Taiwan (Kam Kokpo Koe Taioan 甘國寶過臺灣) was performed at a temple festival in Taipei, in the bricolage o-pei-Ia 胡撇仔 style; India Coral Reblossoming (Chhiatang Hoe Khui 剌桐花開) is an original ＂refined＂ opera performed at the National Theater. Kam Kokpo is a farce about class relations; India Coral is a tragedy about ethnic relations. Kam Kokpo constructs an allegorical relationship between the past and the present, in which characters stand for abstract essences. The combination of the ＂real＂ historical setting with the o-pei-la style makes the characters simultaneously social types and moral exemplars, allowing for a critical reading of both contemporary class relations and a traditional moral economy. In contrast, India Coral constructs a relationship between past and present that is analogical-the Pingpu aborigines were to the Han settlers as Taiwanese are to Americans. Despite the opera’s explicit purpose of constructing a unique Taiwanese identity, its analogical poetics ironically replicate a distinctly American model of ethnicity.

The opera performance market is maturing, and at the same time, new opera performance and marketing methods are being introduced on a regular basis to meet the growing spiritual needs of the audience. It is the foundation for opera to achieve its business goals by going to the market and completing commodity exchange. The success of opera performances on the market has a direct impact on whether they can achieve market success and achieve the ultimate goal of maximizing profits. An in-depth analysis and discussion of industrial data mining technology in the positioning and market selection of opera performance art is presented in this paper, and it is of great theoretical and practical importance for improving the positioning and market selection of opera performance art and promoting the development of the opera performance industry. The application of artistic orientation and market selection in industrial data mining will be developed, which will aid in the systematic development of artistic orientation and market selection in opera performance of industrial data mining systems, improve industrial data mining efficiency, and promote the application of artistic orientation and market selection in opera performance of industrial data mining systems.

Opera is a performing art in which music plays the leading role, and the acting of singers has a synergistic effect with the music. The mirror neuron system represents the neurophysiological mechanism underlying the coupling of perception and action. Mirror neuron activity is modulated by the appropriateness of actions and clarity of intentions, as well as emotional expression and aesthetic values. Therefore, it would be reasonable to assume that an opera performance induces mirror neuron activity in the audience so that the performer effectively shares an embodied performance with the audience. However, it is uncertain which aspect of opera performance induces mirror neuron activity. It is hypothesized that although auditory stimuli could induce mirror neuron activity, audiovisual perception of stage performance is the primary inducer of mirror neuron activity. To test this hypothesis, this study sought to correlate opera performance with brain activity as measured by electroencephalography (EEG) in singers while watching an opera performance with sounds or while listening to an aria without visual stimulus. We detected mirror neuron activity by observing that the EEG power in the alpha frequency band (8–13 Hz) was selectively decreased in the frontal-central-parietal area when watching an opera performance. In the auditory condition, however, the alpha-band power did not change relative to the resting condition. This study illustrates that the audiovisual perception of an opera performance engages the mirror neuron system in its audience.

Opera performances are a collection of dialogues, dances, and songs, accompanied by a variety of instruments. The paper primarily focuses on the specific features of the influence of various Chinese violins on opera performances. The authors analyzed jinghu, erhu, dahu, banhu, and gaohu, as well as outlined the elements that make up the melody for a particular instrument in opera performances. The survey outcomes suggested that improvement of the performance program requires, as part of the staged action: adding a melody that corresponds to the production’s mood (30% of respondents); playing tunes on jinghu more quietly (27% of respondents); removing the tightness when playing banhu (25%); eliminating gaohu (18%). Further survey suggested that melodies were most clearly and correctly played with erhu (27%) and jinghu (23%), with the soft tones and piercing sounds which are typical for these violins. 10% of respondents believed that gaohu was played with many mistakes and was described by a lack of distinctive clear sounds. The respondents' perceptions of, and playing different violins in, opera suggested that the best quality performance was observed with erhu (0.92), jinghu (0.83), banhu (0.81), and dahu (0.79). The calculation results were compared using the Student's t-distribution, which suggested the similarity of values for almost all violins, except for gaohu, because playing it in opera performances was not melodious. The research findings are valuable to opera violinists studying the specific features of musical instrument and the harmony of all elements.

Relevance of the study. The object of research in the history of music usually is the spiritual component of artistic culture, it's genre- and style-centric processes of the art itself. Specific conditions of artistic artifacts's existence, locations where the premiere and subsequent performances took place, draw less scientific attention. At the same time, without taking this information into account, the musico-historical aspects of the past appear devalued and deformed; certain things remain not understood completely, certain moments fall out of sight. The purpose of the study. It is extremely important to study the components of the infrastructure of musical life as a way of existence of musical culture. The opera theatre is one of the basic components of the infrastructure of the musical life of modern Europe. This study is based on generalization and system analysis methods. Attention is focused on the parametric characteristics of the locations of the first opera performances, where the requirements for future opera houses were formed. In particular, performances that took place in adapted palace premises ("Euridice" by Peri — Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Sala delle Commedie; "Orpheus" by Monteverdi — Mantua, Palazzo Gonzaga, chambers of Margarita Gonzaga d'Este; "Saint Alexius" by Landi — hall of the palace Barberini alle Quattro Fontane) and court theaters mainly of the Renaissance type ("Il rapimento di Cefalo" by Caccini — Florence, Teatro degli Uffizi; "Ariadne" by Monteverdi — Mantua, temporary theatre on the Cortile della Cavallerizza). The results and conclusions. It is emphasized that the implementation of the essential functions of the opera genre in the New European culture (the development of the anthropo-dimensional space by musical means, the creation of generalized stylistic norms of opus music and ensuring the stability of the formed tradition) is possible under the condition of provided reach and continuous professional development. It is noted that the reach is determined, firstly, by the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the audience and, secondly, by the significant volume of body of the texts. Both of these factors, being prepared in the locations of the first opera performances, were fully developed and realised in the following period, marked by the appearance of publicly accessible opera houses, the first of which was the San Cassiano theater in Venice (1637).

Performing an opera requires singers on stage to process mental imagery and theory of mind tasks in conjunction with singing and action control. Although it is conceivable that the precuneus, as a posterior hub of the default mode network, plays an important role in opera performance, how the precuneus contributes to opera performance has not been elucidated yet. In this study, we aimed to investigate the contribution of the precuneus to singing in an opera. Since the precuneus processes mental scenes, which are multimodal and integrative, we hypothesized that it is involved in opera performance by integrating multimodal information required for performing a character in an opera. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing the functional connectivity of the precuneus during imagined singing and rest. This study included 42 opera singers who underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging when performing “imagined operatic singing” with their eyes closed. During imagined singing, the precuneus showed increased functional connectivity with brain regions related to language, mirror neuron, socio-cognitive/emotional, and reward processing. Our findings suggest that, with the aid of its widespread connectivity, the precuneus and its network allow embodiment and multimodal integration of mental scenes. This information processing is necessary for imagined singing as well as performing an opera. We propose a novel role of the precuneus in opera performance.

The author analyzes the content of conducting practice in traditional and atypical locations where opera performances are staged. The relevance of the study of the principles in the conductor's work in modern realities is proven from the standpoint of the fact that productions are realized in different conditions: natural landscape, architectural ensembles, festival projects "in the open air". The basis of the article is the analysis of literary sources on various aspects of conducting activity in traditional and atypical solutions of opera performances. The nature of cooperation between the conductor and the director is outlined in order to define a common concept of interpretation of an opera work aimed at ensuring the artistic integrity of the performance. The author gives vivid examples that illustrate the conductor's approach to the implementation of opera projects in the traditional conditions of a musical theater with direct visual and acoustic contact with singer-actors. Peculiarities of the conductor's work in non-standard locations for the realization of opera performances were studied: against the background of a natural landscape (Austria, 2016); historical palace (Ukraine, 2018); steps to the Catholic cathedral (Germany, 2016) as part of the festival project. An author's version of J. Puccini's "Bohème" opera performance in Kyiv Municipal Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet for Children and Youth (now the Kyiv Opera) is proposed, placing the orchestra on the stage behind the acting-musical action. The article points to the problems of interaction between the conductor and the singer-actors, which exist in the absence of direct visual and acoustic contact, which is explained by the atypical locations of the conceptual vision of the performance by the directorproducer and also by project organizers. The author proves the necessity of using individual conducting techniques when implementing opera projects in non-typical locations in order to ensure synchronization and high-quality synthesis of vocal-stage action and orchestral sound.

In the continuous development of interactive art today, people pay more and more attention to the diversity of interactive methods, and Chinese opera performance has also derived many emerging technology carriers. For example, the virtual scene opera performance is based on human-computer interaction technology, which breaks through the limitation of time and space of opera performance, transforms from the theatre stage space to various types of virtual space, and makes use of various types of carriers and media such as image and sound to perform. Actors in the virtual space can create an interactive continuation of the virtual space through body changes or spatial scheduling. This not only enables the audience to appreciate the imagery of the "four skills" of Singing, Recitative, Acting, and Acrobatic Fighting in the choreographed movements of the opera but also to appreciate the spatial image of the "image outside of the image" and "image outside of the meaning".The virtual scene design of the Peking Opera "Farewell My Concubine" realizes the functions of multimedia participation in performance and construction of virtual scenes through digitally constructed performance scenes, which can be quickly applied to diversified opera performances, and at the same time, it has strong theoretical and practical application value in expanding the scope of the audience and expanding the effectiveness of trans-media digital opera dissemination, providing new possibilities for further combining the virtual scene design of the opera with human-computer interaction technology.

In an opera performance, singers must perform difficult musical repertoire at a high level while dealing with the stress of standing before a large audience. Previous literature suggests that individuals with better cognitive functions experience less stress. During a music performance such functions, especially attention, memory, and executive function, are in high demand, suggesting that cognitive functions may play a role in music performance. This study used physiological and cognitive measures to examine this phenomenon in opera performance. Cardiac activity data were collected from 24 opera trainees during a resting-state period before and during a real-life performance. Heart-rate variability (HRV) was used as an indicator of physiological stress, such that higher HRV indicates lower stress. Standardized neuropsychological tests were used to measure attention (IVA-2), memory (CVLT-3, WMS-IV), and executive function (Trail Making Test). Results showed cognitive function- and state-specific relationships between HRV and cognitive function: HRV during the resting state had a positive correlation with attention, while HRV during a performance had a positive correlation with executive function. These results suggest that greater cognitive function is related to lower stress during opera performance. The findings of this study provide initial evidence for a relationship between cognitive functions and music performance stress in opera trainees.

Lay listeners are reliable judges when evaluating pitch accuracy of occasional singers, suggesting that enculturation and laypersons’ perceptual abilities are sufficient to judge “simple” music material adequately. However, the definition of pitch accuracy in operatic performances is much more complex than in melodies performed by occasional singers. Furthermore, because listening to operatic performances is not a common activity, laypersons‘ experience with this complicated acoustic signal is more limited. To address the question of music expertise in evaluating operatic singing voices, listeners without music training were compared with the music experts examined in a recent study (Larrouy-Maestri, Magis, & Morsomme, 2014a) and their ratings were modeled with regard to underlying acoustic variables of pitch accuracy. As expected, some participants lacked test-retest reliability in their judgments. However, listeners who used a consistent strategy relied on a definition of pitch accuracy that appears to overlap with the quantitative criteria used by music experts. Besides clarifying the role of music expertise in the evaluation of melodies, our findings show robust perceptual abilities in laypersons when listening to complex signals such as operatic performances.

The Journal of Popular CultureVolume 29, Issue 3 p. 183-202 The Rabbit in Drag: Camp and Gender Construction in the American Animated Cartoon Sam Abel, Sam Abel Sam Abel teaches in the Department of Drama, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. He is the author of Opera in the Flesh: Sexuality in Operatic Performance, published by Westview Press.Search for more papers by this author Sam Abel, Sam Abel Sam Abel teaches in the Department of Drama, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. He is the author of Opera in the Flesh: Sexuality in Operatic Performance, published by Westview Press.Search for more papers by this author First published: Winter 1995 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3840.1995.00183.xCitations: 11AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Citing Literature Volume29, Issue3Winter 1995Pages 183-202 RelatedInformation

In the first decades of the nineteenth century the musical differences between operatic scores and operatic performances were much greater than they later became. It was commonplace to cut, interpolate, substitute, and otherwise reshape the musical units of operas, while keeping more or less intact many of their characteristic structural features.1 Although the system's heart was in Italy, during the 1830s operatic performances in London?at the King's Theatre, Drury Lane, and Covent Garden?exhibited many of the same characteristics. Composers, performers, and managers all had a financial interest in maintaining or at least accommodating themselves to the prevailing practices, but some opera-goers complained vigorously and published their objections not only in England's main musical journal, the Harmonicon, but also in books and in journals like the Athenaeum and the London and Westminster Review, which had a wider circulation and influence than the musical press. This article is an examination of these performance practices in London in the light of contemporary complaints about them by professional and amateur critics as diverse as P?ckler-Muskau, von Raumer, F?tis, Peacock, Ayrton, and Chorley. It shows that to a surprising extent such alterations were not only noticed but also knowledgeably, even fiercely, analyzed and criticized.